Reflective Practice: Helping Coaches Improve their Coaching

Xavier Roy,Pierre Sercia,Simona E Gavrila

doi:10.47206/ijsc.v1i1.55

Abstract

ABSTRACT Reflective practice has recently been advocated as approach for sports and strength and conditioning coaches to question, learn from, and understand their own experiences to adapt and/or change their subsequent behaviors and decision-making processes. This article discusses the importance of reflexive practice for coaches and provides examples of how reflective practice can be implemented at each step of the coaching process.

Highlights

Nowadays, sports coaches and strength & conditioning (S&C) coaches have access to data of all sorts for to evaluate athletes, to track these athletes’ improvements in training and competition, and to support their decision-making process
Many authors have advocated for the use of reflective practice in helping both sports coaches and S&C coaches to become experts in their field [9, 21, 24, 35]
Sports coaches and S&C coaches often work with numerous athletes on a daily basis and each unique interaction offers the possibility for coaches to reflect and consider possible solutions, adjustments, or improvements if a similar situation were to happen in the future

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Sports coaches and strength & conditioning (S&C) coaches have access to data of all sorts for to evaluate athletes, to track these athletes’ improvements in training and competition, and to support their decision-making process. The use of reflective practice is well documented for personal and professional development in fields such as nursing, psychology, and education for HOW DO COACHES LEARN TO COACH AND HOW CAN REFLECTIVE PRACTICE SUPPORT LEARNING?. The coaching process is dynamic and often chaotic and is characterized by complexity [4]. To navigate this process effectively, coaches need to possess different forms of knowledge, namely (a) professional, (b) interpersonal, and (c) intrapersonal [9]. Possessing intrapersonal knowledge, which refers to self-awareness and introspection [22], supports coach learning by creating a vast network of ideas, emotions, and experiences resulting in a cognitive. Reflective Practice for Sports and S&C Coaches structure that moves beyond accumulating REFLECTIVE PRACTICE more or new knowledge [51]

COACHING PROCESS

Planning the coaching process

Intervention and assessment during the coaching process

CONCLUSION